Editing Charleston (dance) (section)

== Origins ==
[[File:Baker Charleston.jpg|thumb|left|upright|[[Josephine Baker]] dancing the Charleston at the [[Folies Bergère]], Paris, in 1926]]
While the dance probably came from the "star" or challenge dances that were all part of the African-American dance called [[juba dance|Juba]], the particular sequence of steps which appeared in ''Runnin' Wild'' were probably newly devised for popular appeal.<ref name="Lynne Fauley Emery page 227">{{harvnb|Emery|1972|p=227}}</ref> "At first, the step started off with a simple twisting of the feet, to rhythm in a lazy sort of way. When the dance hit Harlem, a new version was added. It became a fast kicking step, kicking the feet, both forward and backward and later done with a tap." Further changes were undoubtedly made before the dance was put on stage.<ref>{{harvnb|Emery|1972|p=228}}</ref> In the words of [[Harold Courlander]], while the Charleston had some characteristics of traditional Black American dance, it "was a synthetic creation, a newly devised conglomerate tailored for widespread popular appeal." Although the step known as "Jay-Bird" and other specific movement sequences are of Afro-American origin, no record of the Charleston dance being performed as such on the plantation has been discovered.<ref name="Lynne Fauley Emery page 227" />

Although it achieved popularity when the song "Charleston", sung by [[Elisabeth Welch]], was added to the production ''Runnin' Wild'', the dance itself had first been introduced in Irving C. Miller's ''Liza'' in the spring of 1923.<ref>{{harvnb|Emery|1972|p=225}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Johnson|first=James Weldon|title=Black Manhattan|others=Illustrated by Sondra Kathryn Wilson|publisher=Da Capo Press|date=1991|isbn=978-0-306-80431-1|url=https://archive.org/details/blackmanhattan00john_0}}</ref> Although the name was new, [[Willie "The Lion" Smith]] noted that the dance was known well before that; in particular, he mentions the version done by Russell Brown under the name "Geechie dance".<ref>Jacqui Malone, ''Steppin' on the Blues: The Visible Rhythms of African American Dance'', 1996, {{ISBN|0-252-06508-5}}, [https://archive.org/details/steppinonbluesvi00malo/page/84 p. 84]</ref> The ''Charleston'' composer James P. Johnson said that he had seen it danced as early as 1913 in New York City in the [[San Juan Hill, Manhattan|San Juan Hill]] neighborhood, at the Jungles Casino.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Runnin' Wild: A Biography of James P. Johnson |url=https://riverwalkjazz.stanford.edu/program/runnin-wild-biography-james-p-johnson |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221003114315/https://riverwalkjazz.stanford.edu/program/runnin-wild-biography-james-p-johnson |archive-date=2022-10-03 |access-date=2024-01-15 |website=The Jim Cullum Riverwalk Jazz Collection - Stanford Libraries}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Williams |first=Keith |date=2017-12-21 |title=How Lincoln Center Was Built (It Wasn't Pretty) |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/21/nyregion/how-lincoln-center-was-built-it-wasnt-pretty.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230504180659/https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/21/nyregion/how-lincoln-center-was-built-it-wasnt-pretty.html |archive-date=2023-05-04 |work=[[The New York Times]]}}</ref>

{{Listen
| filename    = Arthur Gibbs and His Gang - Charleston.mp3
| title       = "Charleston"
| description = A 1923 recording of "Charleston" by Arthur Gibbs and His Gang
}}
[[File:Charleston rhythm (with notes).png|thumb|Charleston rhythm.<ref>{{harvnb|Schuller|1968|p=375}}</ref> {{audio|Charleston.mid|Play}}]]

The characteristic Charleston beat, which Johnson said he first heard from Charleston dockworkers, incorporates the [[Clave (rhythm)|clave]] rhythm and was considered by composer and critic [[Gunther Schuller]] to be synonymous with the [[Habanera (music)|Habanera]] and the [[Spanish Tinge]].<ref>{{harvnb|Schuller|1968|pp=158, 173}}</ref> Johnson actually recorded several "Charlestons" and in later years derided most of them as being of "that same damn beat." Several of these were recorded on [[player piano]] rolls, some of which have survived to this day.{{Citation needed|date=December 2017|reason=when were last known piano rolls}}

The Charleston and similar dances such as the [[Black Bottom (dance)|Black Bottom]] which involved "kicking up your heels" were very popular in the latter 1920s. The trend subsided after 1930, probably in part because the new fashion for floor-level sheath evening dresses, which constricted the legs, did not suit them. In a British Pathé Instructional Short of 1933, a new variation – the "Crawl Charleston" – is demonstrated by Santos Casini and Jean Mence, a very sedate dance similar to a tango or waltz. It was not until dress hemlines rose toward the end of the thirties that the Charleston is again seen in film.

A slightly different form of Charleston became popular in the 1930s and 1940s, and is associated with [[Lindy Hop]]. In this later form, the hot [[jazz]] timing of the '20s Charleston was adapted to suit [[swing (genre)|swing jazz]] music. This style of Charleston has many common names, including Lindy Charleston, Savoy Charleston, '30s or '40s Charleston, and Swinging Charleston, and its basic step takes eight counts and is danced either alone or with a partner. [[Frankie Manning]] and other Savoy dancers saw themselves as doing Charleston steps within the Lindy rather than dancing the Charleston itself.<ref>{{cite book |title=Frankie Manning: Ambassador of Lindy Hop |first1=Frankie |last1=Manning |first2=Cynthia R. |last2=Millman |date=2007 |publisher=Temple University Press |page=49 |isbn=978-1-59213-563-9}}</ref>